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South Africa character made up for mistakes - Erasmus
By Ben Spratt
Rassie Erasmus praised South Africa's character after they came through an error-strewn performance to beat England 23-12 and wrap up the three-Test series.
The Springboks had won the opener a week earlier, but they initially struggled on Saturday and found themselves 12-0 down to the touring side.
However, Erasmus' men battled away to score 23 unanswered points and leave their coach happy, even if he could acknowledge that mistakes had been made.
"Being behind by only 12 points and not 24 points helped a bit, but we got our composure back quicker than last week," Erasmus said afterwards.
"There were still a lot of mistakes, but I thought the character the guys showed was enough to win the game. What the players learned last week and again this week will help them going into the future.
"But we don't want to start like that again. [There were] bad penalties that we gave away, bad discipline, a lot of things that we did wrong."
And Erasmus, new to the job for these mid-year internationals, is now glad to have the opportunity to experiment with his team for the third Test.
"It is nice to have the series wrapped up. Next week we want to try and win 3-0," he said.
"But we will try a few new things because now we have the opportunity to put different guys in different positions under pressure."
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Latest Comments
I'd rate the brothers Hendricks a point or two lower. Jaden has really not delivered on his early promise and Jordan's kicking at posts was quite erratic. Amongst other things.
I was really surprised that DuhDuh was replaced and not Jordan. DuhDuh had a great game and just underlined his class in a backline that was not firing on all cylinders.
Damian Willemse was missed. Hopefully he'll be back to full fitness and have an injury free 2025 (and '26 and '27 and so on until he decides to retire to spend time with his grandchildren).
RG was great. What an athlete.
Very happy that Hanekom made his debut at last. He gave a good account of himself and will hopefully grow into his role on the international stage.
All things considered, this was another frustrating Bok performance. Even though it was a comfortable win, it wasn't a commanding win. This Welsh team should've been put away by a far larger margin.
But I have faith in Dr Rassie. He knows more than I do. Bring on 2027 😁
Go to commentsGo the AB's .. Probs win by about 30 I reckon ... Cheers ..
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